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Just released is Bob Marley & The Wailers: The Capitol Session ’73. The closed-door, in-studio performance was filmed and recorded in October 1973 at the Capitol Records Tower in L.A. by legendary producer Denny Cordell. The set is available as a CD/DVD package, a standalone CD, a double-LP pressed on green marble vinyl, and a double-LP pressed on Rasta swirl vinyl — red, yellow and green — available exclusively at Sound of Vinyl, as well as digital formats.
The official press release sheds light on the footage, which was lost for over 20 years:
Filmed 10 years after their formation, Bob Marley & The Wailers already had several established hits through the ska and rocksteady eras. Gaining recognition stateside, including a few shows with Bruce Springsteen at Max’s Kansas City in NYC, they then went on to tour with Sly & The Family Stone, before they had been unceremoniously dumped from the tour. This led to the band — Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Joe Higgs, Aston Barrett, Carlton Barrett, and Earl ‘Wya’ Lindo — making their way to Hollywood to do this session.
Filmmaker and Bob Marley archivist Martin Disney shed light on the newly remastered Capitol Studios footage: “It was shot on two-inch, originally. Denny Cordell bought a full outside broadcast — as we say this side of the pond — truck, with two-inch RCA machines and four broadcast cameras. The story being the band had been kicked off the Sly & The Family Stone tour and (laughs) had hardly any money, and so they called Denny. Denny said, ‘Come to my house’ — and 48 hours later, he filmed them at Capitol.”
The tracklisting to ‘Bob Marley & The Wailers: The Capitol Session ’73’ is:
“You Can’t Blame The Youth,” “Slave Driver,” “Burnin’ And Lootin’,” “Rastaman Chant,” “Duppy Conqueror,” “Midnight Raver,” “Put It On,” “Stop That Train,” “Kinky Reggae,” “Stir It Up,” “No More Trouble,” and “Get Up Stand Up”
DVD Bonus tracks: “Duppy Conqueror” and “Rastaman Chant”